Consistent sleep and wake times
Same bedtime and wake time every day, weekends included
Same bedtime, same wake time, seven days a week, with enough time in bed to actually get the sleep you need. Regularity predicts health outcomes at least as well as duration does, and it makes falling asleep easier because your body starts anticipating it. The weekend part is the hard part, and it is the part that matters.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Bryan JohnsonDoes it
Founder · Blueprint longevity protocol
Bed at the same early hour every night, with sleep timing treated as the highest-priority commitment in the day.
Source: Blueprint protocol site: sleep protocol“Being consistent is as important as getting enough sleep. I go to bed at 8:30 pm and wake up around 4:30 am. … Pick your bedtime (10 pm, 11 pm, midnight) and then stick to it. The key is consistency.”
Blueprint protocol site: Sleep protocol (opens in a new tab) - Chris HemsworthDoes it
Actor · Limitless and Centr
A more consistent approach to sleep was one of the concrete changes he listed after the APOE4 result.
Source: E! News: Chris Hemsworth Shares Lifestyle Changes After Learning of Increased Risk of Alzheimer's Disease - Cristiano RonaldoDoes it
Footballer · Portugal captain and five-time Ballon d'Or winner
Calls sleep the most important tool he has and says the key is consistency: bed at roughly 11 to 12, up around 8.30, the same every day. In the 2025 Whoop clip he put that routine above everything else for what he called health-span.
Source: Goal: Cristiano Ronaldo reveals the 'most important tool' behind his longevity“Sleep is the most important tool that I have … To be consistent with the time that I go to bed and that I wake up. I mean, like example, I go to bed around 11-12 and I wake up around 8.30. It is my routine.”
Goal: Cristiano Ronaldo reveals the 'most important tool' behind his longevity (opens in a new tab) · 25 Oct 2025 - Daniel AmenDoes it
Psychiatrist · Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
Bed at 10 p.m., up at 6:30 a.m., the same times every night through lockdown. Like most doctors, CNBC noted, he puts sleep near the front of the queue, and the fixed hours set up everything else in his morning.
Source: CNBC Make It: Ping pong, walks and mind exercises: Brain-boosting habits of a renowned brain doctor during self-quarantine - Jennifer AnistonDoes it
Actor · Friends and The Morning Show
Tries to make bedtime the same every night, which she admits is hard for an actor whose schedule changes with every film. After decades of sleep anxiety and sleepwalking she sought medical advice, and a fixed bedtime is one of the habits that came out of that.
Source: CNN: Jennifer Aniston's insomnia is just her latest sleep issue (quoting People) - Jocko WillinkDoes it
Retired Navy SEAL officer · Jocko Podcast
Wake time is fixed every day, weekends included, and bedtime is what moves rather than the alarm.
Source: Discipline Equals Freedom - Layne NortonDoes it
Nutrition scientist and powerlifter · Biolayne
On weeks without the kids he tries not to let his wake time drift. A consistent wake time helps him more, he has noticed, than the extra sleep he would get by sleeping in.
Source: FoundMyFitness: Dr. Layne Norton on Building Muscle - Mark HymanDoes it
Physician · The Dr. Hyman Show · author of Young Forever
Aims for seven to eight hours, asleep by ten and up by six or seven, in a bedroom made as dark and quiet as he can get it.
Source: The Doctor's Farmacy: My Personal Longevity Routine“Sleep, I always try to get seven, eight hours sleep. I usually get to sleep by 10, up by six or seven. And I make sure I take magnesium at night. I wear eye shades, I have ear plugs.”
The Doctor's Farmacy: My Personal Longevity Routine (opens in a new tab) · 10 Mar 2023 - Mel RobbinsDoes it
Author and podcaster · The Let Them Theory
Works her bedtime backwards from a 6 AM wake-up and the eight hours she wants, which for her lands between 9:15 and 9:30 PM once she allows for reading in bed and the five to 25 minutes it takes her to drop off. Picking the bedtime, she says, is the step everyone skips.
Source: The Mel Robbins Podcast: 4 Nighttime Habits to Be Energized & Sleep Better - Steven BartlettDoes it
Entrepreneur · The Diary of a CEO
Names fixed sleep and wake times as the change that has made the biggest difference to him, and keeps his mornings clear so he can wake without an alarm.
Source: Tatler Asia: Steven Bartlett's big bet beyond 'The Diary of a CEO'“The single biggest impact on my life [has been] being really intentional about sleep and wake up times. Sleep is upstream from what you decide to eat, your ability to be creative, how you manage your relationships”
Tatler Asia: Steven Bartlett's big bet beyond 'The Diary of a CEO' (opens in a new tab) · 2 Aug 2025 - Tom BradyDoes it
Former NFL quarterback · The TB12 Method
In bed by 9 p.m. and up at 6 a.m. for nine hours of sleep, according to his 2017 book as summarized by CNBC, which lists the fixed bedtime as one of the main planks of his routine.
Source: CNBC Make It: Inside Tom Brady's sleep routine“Create a good pre-sleep routine to relax. Train your body to get into a rhythm by going to bed at a regular time, and turn off all your electronic devices a half hour before you go to sleep.”
Boston.com: 12 excerpts from Tom Brady's new self-help book (opens in a new tab) · 14 Sep 2017 - Andrew HubermanRecommends
Neuroscientist · Huberman Lab
Ranks a fixed wake time ahead of any supplement or device, near the front of his sleep toolkit, and tells people to go to sleep when sleepiness first arrives.
Source: Huberman Lab: Toolkit for Sleep - James ClearRecommends
Author · Atomic Habits
Designs a fixed bedtime like any other habit, with cues and an environment that support it.
Source: jamesclear.com: how to sleep better - Matthew WalkerRecommends
Sleep scientist · author of Why We Sleep
Same bedtime, same wake time, every day, weekends included and even after a bad night: his single most repeated piece of advice.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast: optimising your sleep - Peter AttiaRecommends
Physician · The Drive · author of Outlive
Sleep ranks alongside exercise and nutrition for him, and the starting point is pinning bed and wake times to within fifteen to thirty minutes.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #661 transcript - Rhonda PatrickRecommends
Biomedical scientist · FoundMyFitness
Circadian regularity sits upstream of much of the metabolic and cognitive advice she gives.
Source: FoundMyFitness: sleep regularity topic page - Sahil BloomRecommends
Author · The 5 Types of Wealth
His advice to readers is a fixed sleep and wake time, held about 90 percent of the time, and he says he would never back a 5am alarm that cost someone two hours of sleep.
Source: The Curiosity Chronicle: How to Become a Morning Person - Jeff NippardDiscusses
Natural bodybuilder · Science-based lifting
During the year-long experiment BarBend covered, he and his brother made a consistent sleep schedule part of the protocol, on the grounds that sleep regularity affects body composition.
Source: BarBend: How Much Muscle Did Jeff Nippard Gain In 14 Months Naturally? - Lex FridmanDiscusses
AI researcher · Lex Fridman Podcast
Irregular and mostly nocturnal sleep, a point put to him directly on the show.
Source: Lex Fridman Podcast: Andrew Huberman transcript - Zac EfronDiscusses
Actor · the Baywatch body and what it cost him
Sleep was the thing he cut. If filming stopped at midnight he would still be up at 4 a.m. to train, and Men's Health lists that next to the overtraining as part of the Baywatch method he now warns people about.
Source: Men's Health: Zac Efron Interview on His Career, His Health, and His Next Movie
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Protocol entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.